Achy Obejas and Garth SteinMedaille College Lecture Hall

Ben Brindise and Coleen Murtagh-Paratore4th floor of the Main Building

All events are free and open to the public.

2017-18 Reading Series Schedule

Thursday, September 28:

Achy Obejas is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Ruins, Days of Awe, and three other books of fiction. She edited and translated (into English) the anthology Havana Noir, and has since translated Junot Díaz, Rita Indiana, Wendy Guerra, and many others. In 2014, she was awarded a USA Ford Fellowship for her writing and translation. She currently serves as the Distinguished Visiting Writer at Mills College in Oakland, California. www.achyobejas.com

Achy will be at Medaille College for an entire week, as a visiting fellow from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation.

Wednesday, October 25:

Garth Stein is the author of five novels, two children’s picture books, and an award-winning play. The Art of Racing in the Rain remained on the New York Times bestseller list for four years, has been selected for dozens of Community Reads programs across the country, and has become a beloved contemporary classic. Garth lives in Seattle with his family. www.garthstein.com

Garth Stein’s book, The Art of Racing in the Rain, is the Freshman Summer Read book for Medaille College’s incoming class of 2022.

Thursday, February 22:

Ben Brindise: A former Medaille student, poet and fiction writer Ben Brindise is a Teaching Artist at the Just Buffalo Literary Center. He is an award-winning spoken-word poet who qualified to compete in the 2015 and 2016 National Poetry Slam helping Buffalo to qualify for semi-finals in 2016. Benjamin recently published his first chapbook, Rotten Kid, through Ghost City Press in Syracuse, NY, and is also the curator for the Creative Mornings monthly book list. His poetry has been published in The Magnitizdat Literary, Page & Spine, Foundlings, and Ghost City Review; his fiction in Ghost City Review, Tangent Literary Magazine, Down in the Dirt Magazine and the Enriched with Dirt Anthology. He is also the author of an e-book available through Amazon Kindle: I Was a Lid, which is also available in paperback through the Barnes and Noble website. You can catch Ben on the weekends spitting late 90's and early 00's hip-hop lyrics with his band Surviving Friday.

Thursday, March 22:

Coleen Murtagh Paratore: A full-time writer and teacher of writing, Murtagh-Paratore is best known for her debut novel, The Wedding Planner's Daughter which has sold more than 1/2-million copies. This book sparked 3 series of "Willa books" and was twice optioned for a movie. Coleen Murtagh Paratore is the award-winning author of 20+ books including picture books, middle grade and YA novels, an inspirational memoir, and writer's notebook called FIREFLIES. Visit her online at www.coleenparatore.com. *UPDATE: The March 22 speaker at Medaille College’s Write Thing Reading Series, Coleen Murtagh-Paratore, unfortunately has to cancel her scheduled appearance.

Thursday, May 3, 2018:

Prelude Publication Party and Medaille Community Open Mic. At this event, we celebrate the publication of this year’s student literary journal, the Prelude. Students, faculty and staff published in Prelude, as well as any other member of the community, are welcome to read from their work at this Open Mic.